iPhone 5 Screen Will Be Bigger, Thanks To A Hint From iOS 6

A mockup of what the iPhone 5 could look like. (Photo : appadvice.com)

If there's one feature near the top of almost everyone's iPhone 5 wish list it's a bigger screen. Several Android smartphones have impressive screen sizes that allow for better browsing and video capabilities. Now, based on a preview build of iOS 6, 9to5Mac is reporting that Apple's upcoming mobile operating system supports the rumors that a 4-inch screen will be part of the iPhone 5.

Like Us on Facebook

The website 9to5Mac used development tools to run an iOS simulator and set the resolution at 640X1136 - the rumored resolution of the next-gen iPhone. When they ran the resolution in iOS 6, which should come out this fall, 9to5Mac found that the iOS homescreen now displayed five rows of icons, instead of the usual four. When they ran the same test using the current iOS 5.1, it only displayed four rows of icons, in a stretched manner, across.

LatinosPost earlier reported on a new Auto Layout feature that developers found in their early builds of Apple's iOS 6. Reportedly, it will help apps and programs designed to run on the current, smaller iPhone scale up visually. This also supports the fact that Apple is planning on increasing the screen size on the iPhone 5.

The current iPhone 4S has a 3.5-inch screen, a 3:2 aspect ratio, and a resolution of 640X960. If the rumored 640X1136 resolution is true, then the iPhone 5 will be taller, but not wider. The new resolution would make the screen 4-inches diagonally and bring the aspect ratio very close to 16:9, which means that the iPhone 5 should offer a better widescreen viewing experience.

In addition to the bigger screen, the iPhone 5 should support 4G LTE, come with a quad-core processor, and possibly have an NFC chip installed.

Apple is expected to make an announcement on September 12 revealing a new line of products that should include the next-gen iPhone, the iPad Mini, and new iPod Touches and Nanos.

Website iMore, which broke the September 12 announcement date, has the release date for the iPhone 5 pegged at September 21. Many others around the internet believe that an October release date is more likely.